Miami City Commission votes unanimously to terminate licensing agreement with Centner Academy

MIAMI – Miami city commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday to terminate a license with the private school Centner Academy to fund an indoor sports facility for primary use by their students on a parcel of public land called Biscayne Park.

It comes after David Centner stated, “We are pulling out,” during the City Commission meeting’s public comment period adding, “Maybe we should re-examine this.” His wife Leila also spoke during public comment telling commissioners, “We are no longer interested.”

In an interview with Local 10 News outside City Hall following their public comments David said It has been a “process that has been demoralizing and we frankly have had it.” Leila Centner added that “all we wanted to do is beautify, and so if someone else wants to donate money to beautify, we support that.”

Maureen Luna, an iPrep mother of two, said of the Centners withdrawal that iPrep parents “are excited to hear that” and that perhaps “we can go back to the drawing board which is what we are asking for.”

“I think it made perfect sense politically,” said Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo, “they didn’t have the votes.” Pardo said after passing the item to revoke the Centners’ agreement, the process begins anew, “and then everyone can come back to the table, including the Centners.”

Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes said, “They took the initiative because there so much controversy.”

The Centner deal is at the center of the state’s corruption case against former Miami Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla.

In his arrest form, FDLE special agents said Diaz de la Portilla failed to disclose receiving tens of thousands of dollars from the Centners and failed to refrain from voting on the matter. Diaz de la Portilla is facing several criminal corruption charges including money laundering and bribery. The Centners have denied any wrongdoing.

The Miami Herald reported Thursday that the Centners received “immunity” in the Diaz de la Portilla case.

At Thursday’s commission meeting, Miami-Dade County School Board members, the Superintendent and public school iPrep parents voiced their concerns and desires.

Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, a Miami-Dade School Board member, firmly stated, “We’re not backing away,” while M-DCPS school board member Lucia Baez-Geller emphasized, “This is due to an injustice.”

“Public land should be used for public schools.” iPrep parent Cary Aronovitz urged commissioners to support an item sponsored by Miami Commissioner Miguel Gabela, aiming to revoke the licensing agreement with Centner Academy and revisit a previous plan to expand the public school iPrep on public land.

Gabela criticized the previous deal, labeling it “a bad deal” and “a no-bid deal.” Only one entity participated and that was the Centners. It calls into question how the deal was put together.

In a letter obtained by Local 10 News Thursday, former Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent and iPrep Principal Alberto Carvalho shared his thoughts with commissioners prior to Miami-Dade County School Board members unanimously sponsoring an item that formally supports re-engaging with the city of Miami on the plan to expand the public school iPrep on public land on the city’s Biscayne Park in Edgewater.

The letter expresses dismay and concern over recent attempts to manipulate public resources for personal gain.

“I, Alberto Carvalho, am both appalled and disturbed by the attempts made over these past several years to scheme and contrive for personal gain. The awarding of a no-bid contract for a parcel of public land to a for-profit entity,” the letter stated in part.

Carvalho highlights an instance involving the awarding of a no-bid contract for a parcel of public land to a for-profit entity, which he believes should have been used for the benefit of the community.

He emphasizes the collaborative efforts between various entities, including the Omni CRA, the School Board, the City of Miami, and Miami-Dade’s Department of Public Housing and Community Development, to develop plans that would benefit the public education system and the community at large.

“A tremendous amount of consideration and painstaking effort went into the CRA’s plan to realize several community benefits, including the expansion of quality school access to residents in Downtown Miami,” he wrote. “The provision of workforce and affordable housing opportunities.”

Carvalho asserts that the dismissal of these collaborative efforts in favor of a no-bid contract is detrimental to the city and the public education system in Miami-Dade County.

The property and plans to redevelop it underpin the criminal money laundering and bribery case against former Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent previously said Diaz de la Portilla sidelined the iPrep plan after he began accepting tens of thousands of dollars in private school cash from David and

Leila Centner, owners of Centner Academy, who wanted to build an indoor athletic complex for their students on the public land, located at 150 NE 19th St.

Diaz de la Portilla is facing several criminal corruption charges, including money laundering and bribery after prosecutors allege he failed to disclose the money he was receiving from the Centners and failed to refrain from voting on the matter.

The Centners’ lobbyist and lawyer, attorney William Riley, is also facing charges in the case.

Investigators said Diaz de la Portilla was an advocate for the Centner plan.

A school board item passed Thursday states that had the original, years-long redevelopment plan been implemented. The plan would have doubled the number of students served and enhanced the educational experience of current iPrep students and families with a new facility and access to outdoor recreational space.

Bendross-Mindingall explained that it’s an area brimming with new, higher-density housing projects, which in turn is creating a greater need for public school seats.

“It is very rare for the board to take a stand on another governing body, but we stand together for what is best for our children, families, residents of District 2 and the community as a whole,” she said. “We want to make sure no matter what the property looks like now, we can make it a place for children.”

The Centners have not been charged in the case.

“It’s a process that has been demoralizing and we frankly have had it,” he added.

“All we wanted to do is beautify, and if so if someone else wants to donate money to beautify, we support that,” said Leila Centner, David Centner’s wife.

“I think that is the best thing they could have done because they took initiative because of so much controversy,” said Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo. “I think it made perfect sense politically. They didn’t have the votes.”

“Was there no way this deal could ever overcome the association with those charges?” Local 10 News reporter Christina Vazquez asked Pardo.

“Yeah, absolutely correct,” Pardo replied. “There was never any kind of bid.”

In the meantime, iPrep parents, many of whom said they enrolled their children at the public school under the understanding that the campus would be expanded at Biscayne Park and felt blindsided by the revelations in Diaz de la Portilla’s arrest warrant, have mobilized to bring back the former plan.

Public school parents showed up to city hall Thursday to advocate for the original Biscayne Park redevelopment plan, but the private school supporters argued a deal is a deal, also showing up to be heard.

The parcel of publicly owned land in Biscayne Park was described in Diaz de la Portilla’s arrest warrant as “one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts of land in Miami’s urban core.”

Ultimately, the commission unanimously passed the motion to terminate the Centner agreement, sparking excitement among iPrep parents.

The only commissioner who did not agree to an on-camera interview on the matter was Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, who said from the dais after the vote that he voted in favor of the deal because David Centner declared on the record that he was withdrawing.

“We are excited to hear that and the fact maybe we can go back to the drawing board which is what we are asking for,” said Mureen Luna, a mother of two iPrep public school students.